Flight management system for UAVs

Abstract

A flight management system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in which the UAV is equipped for cellular fourth generation (4G) flight control. The UAV carries on-board a 4G modem, an antenna connected to the modem for providing for downlink wireless RF. A computer is connected to the modem. A 4G infrastructure to support sending via uplink and receiving via downlink from and to the UAV. The infrastructure further includes 4G base stations capable of communicating with the UAV along its flight path. An antenna in the base station is capable of supporting a downlink to the UAV. A control centre accepts navigation related data from the uplink. In addition, the control centre further includes a connection to the 4G infrastructure for obtaining downlinked data. A computer for calculating location of the UAV using navigation data from the downlink.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for flight management and communication for a plurality of simultaneously flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), based on a cellular communication network protocol or infrastructure of 4G or further generation, comprising:
 at least one base station capable of communicating with said plurality of UAVs along their flight paths; 
 at least one ground antenna in said at least one base station capable of supporting an uplink, downlink, or both to said plurality of UAVs; 
 a connection to said at least one base station of said infrastructure to said communication network for providing an uplink and downlink; and 
 at least one flying UAVs equipped for flight control based on said protocol, said UAVs each carrying on board or connecting to: 
 at least one modem of said protocol; 
 at least one on-board antenna connected to said at least one modem for providing uplink, downlink, or both uplink and downlink wireless RF to a said base station and said communication network with said protocol; 
 at least one sensor for providing UAV location or navigation data; 
 at least one computer ( 42 ) connected to said modem and to flight controls or an autopilot of said UAV; 
 at least one flight data collection and distribution server (FDCDS) for collecting flight data at least UAV flight ID and said location or navigation data from said plurality of UAVs, from at least one supporting cellular network of said protocol or other internet network, wherein said server can also distributes data to at least one other flight data collection and distribution server (FDCDS) or for users who are involved in at least planning of flight missions or collecting and distributes data from or to air traffic control authorities, the flight data distribution being performed on line, offline, or both on line and offline; 
 wherein said at least one FDCDS is further configured to perform at least one of the following: 
 confirm or reject a requested flight plan according to flight authority regulations; flights of other UAVs, based on said data from said plurality of UAVs collected by said FDCDS; 
 track at least one UAV flight data according to its confirmed flight plan and verification of said requested flight plan is in allowed airspaces; and 
 alert at least one of said plurality of UAVs of a danger of contention with another of said plurality of UAVs. 
 
     
     
       2. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein at least one control center to accept navigation related data from said at least one flight data collection and distribution server (FDCDS) for collecting data from said at least one UAV, where the said control center further including at least; a connection to said infrastructure for obtaining downlink and uplink data from FDCDS or from said at least one UAV. 
     
     
       3. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein a computer, tablet, or smartphone for collecting location or navigation data directly or indirectly from at least one of said plurality of UAVs where the said computer, tablet, or smartphone using a connection to said infrastructure or to a communication network for providing uplink and downlink of the said location or navigation related data to said at least one flight data collection and distribution server (FDCDS) while the said computer, tablet, or smartphone includes at least one modem and at least one antenna. 
     
     
       4. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 2 , wherein said UAV further comprises at least one sensor and wherein output data of said sensor is transmitted via said downlink and said infrastructure to said computer, tablet, or smartphone for collecting data from at least one of said sensors, said FDCDS, or said control center wherein said output data of said sensor is not associated with said flight management. 
     
     
       5. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein said base station dynamically allocates bandwidth for transfer of data collected from said plurality of UAVs, and said control center or FDCDS as requested and confirmed in the flight plan. 
     
     
       6. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein said computer ( 42 ) is an integrative computer in the UAV, is connected to said at least one sensor, and further performs the following functions:
 directs maneuvers of said plurality of UAVs by controlling actuators of the flight control and thrust or power of the propulsion engine; and other controls or directs maneuvers or flight plan of said plurality of UAVs via an autopilot of said UAVs or at least one UAV. 
 
     
     
       7. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein data transfer promised latency between said control center and said plurality of UAVs is low at least according to the standard of said protocol. 
     
     
       8. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of UAVs each comprise a standard data and interface as S.BUS serial protocol or other protocol for operation of autopilot, control actuators, or both. 
     
     
       9. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of UAVs belong to an IoT network. 
     
     
       10. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein either or both of said at least one on board antenna and said ground antenna comprises a unidirectional antenna. 
     
     
       11. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , further comprising an auxiliary UAV, wherein said auxiliary UAV is configured for being a repeater or as microcells. 
     
     
       12. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 1 , wherein said system is further configured to dynamically allocate bandwidth of said infrastructure and said network, increasing or decreasing bandwidth as needed according bandwidth demand of said plurality of UAVs; and a public cellular network of said infrastructure. 
     
     
       13. The flight management and communication system as in  claim 12 , wherein said dynamic allocating of bandwidth is managed by said infrastructure according to said protocol. 
     
     
       14. A system for flight management and communication for at least one or plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), based on wireless downlink and uplink communication protocol as for a cellular communication protocol of 4G or further generation, comprising:
 at least one computer as control center to accept navigation related data from a wireless downlink cellular communication protocol of 4G or further generation, said computer control center configured to collect or calculate flight data of at least one UAV including at least one of location, speed, altitude, direction and other vital flight data, said computer control center further configured to do at least one of the following: 
 1) verify of a submitted flight plan that it is in allowed airspaces as according to flight authority regulations and no contention with other UAVs; 
 2) send the result of said checking as confirmation or rejection of requested flight plan; and specify a reason for rejection of a preplanned and propose an alternative plan; 
 3) confirm or reject a submitted flight plan; 
 4) specify a reason for rejection of a flight plan or a said preplan and propose of an alternative flight plan; 
 5) storing confirmed flight path parameters with flight data information (flight ID details); 
 6) implements a deterministic quality of service (QoS); 
 7) compare and supervise the said planed flight data parameters with actual vehicle flight parameters; 
 8) providing a dedicated virtual network within an infrastructure of said protocol, thereby assuring said deterministic QoS to said plurality of UAVs; 
 9) record of actual flight data including time and date; 
 10) processing the actual flight path data for checking and verification of no contention with other vehicles or entrance into non allowed spaces; 
 11) distribute at least one alert to at least one of said plurality of UAVs as of a danger of collisions with another of said plurality of UAVs or other objects on the ground or other intervention in flight courses; 
 12) distribute at least one alert to civilian or military as of a hazard that such vehicles pose as of collisions with another object or otherwise intervention in flight courses; 
 13) take control of a UAV as for correcting the flight path as in case of deviation from a confirmed flight plan or in case of other restrictions; 
 14) take control of a UAV as correcting the flight path as for preventing collision and damages to other UAV or to other objects; 
 15) take control of a UAV as correcting the flight path as according to weather conditions; and 
 16) request for flight path data selected from the group: a flight path, altitude, speed, and bandwidth allocation at a specific time/date; said requesting made by said plurality of UAVs while located at any part of their flight path or flight space. 
 
     
     
       15. A method for flight management and communication for at least one or plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) comprising at least one control center based on at least one computer with, wireless communication link downlink and uplink communication protocol as for a cellular communication protocol of 4G or further generation, the control center to accept navigation related data from a wireless downlink cellular communication protocol while, said control center computer configured to collect or calculate flight data of at least one UAV including at least one of location, speed, height, direction and other vital flight data, said computer control center further configured to perform at least one of the following steps:
 1) verification of a submitted flight plan that it is in allowed airspaces as according to flight authority regulations and no contention with other UAVs; 
 2) sending the result of said checking as confirmation or rejection of requested flight plan; 
 3) confirmation or reject a submitted flight plan; 
 4) specifying a reason for rejection of a flight plan or said preplanned and proposal of an alternative flight plan; 
 5) storing confirmed flight path parameters with flight information data (flight ID details); 
 6) implementing a deterministic quality of service (QoS); 
 7) compare and supervise the said planed flight data parameters with actual vehicle flight parameters; 
 8) providing a dedicated virtual network within an infrastructure of said protocol, thereby assuring said deterministic QoS to said plurality of UAVs; 
 9) recording of actual flight data including time date; 
 10) processing the requested flight path data for checking of no contention with other vehicles or entrance into non allowed spaces; 
 11) distribution of at least one alert to at least one of said plurality of UAVs as of a danger of collisions with another of said plurality of UAVs or other objects on the ground or otherwise intervention in flight courses; 
 12) distribution of at least one alert to civilian or military as of a hazard that such vehicles pose as of collisions with another object or otherwise intervention in flight courses; 
 13) taking control of a UAV as for correcting the flight path as in case of deviation from a confirmed flight plan or in case of other restrictions; 
 14) taking control of a UAV as correcting the flight path as for preventing collision and damages to other UAV or to other objects; 
 15) taking control of a UAV as correcting the flight path as according to weather conditions; and 
 16) requesting flight path data selected from the group: a flight path, altitude, speed, and bandwidth allocation at a specific time/date; said requesting made by said plurality of UAVs while located at any part of their flight path or flight space. 
 
     
     
       16. A system for flight management and communication for a plurality of simultaneously flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), based on a cellular communication network protocol or infrastructure of 4G or further generation, comprising:
 at least one base station capable of communicating with said plurality of UAVs along their flight paths; 
 at least one ground antenna in said at least one base station capable of supporting 
 an uplink, downlink, or both to said plurality of UAVs; 
 a connection to said at least one base station of said infrastructure to said communication network for providing an uplink and downlink for communication with at least one said flying UAVs equipped for flight control based on said protocol, where said UAVs each carrying on board or connecting to: 
 at least one modem of said protocol; 
 at least one on-board antenna connected to said at least one modem for providing uplink, downlink, or both uplink and downlink wireless RF to a said base station and said communication network with said protocol; 
 at least one sensor for providing UAV location or navigation data; 
 at least one computer ( 42 ) connected to said modem and to flight controls or an autopilot of said UAV; and 
 at least one flight data collection and distribution server (FDCDS) for collecting flight data at least UAV flight ID and said location or navigation data from said plurality of UAVs, from at least one supporting cellular network of said protocol or other internet network, wherein said server can also distributes data to at least one other flight data collection and distribution server (FDCDS) or for users who are involved in at least planning of flight missions or collecting and distributes data from or to air traffic control authorities, the flight data distribution being performed on line, offline, or both on line and offline; 
 wherein said at least one FDCDS is further configured to perform at least one of the following: 
 confirm or reject a requested flight plan according to flight authority regulations, flights of other UAVs, based on said data from said plurality of UAVs collected by said FDCDS; 
 track at least one UAV flight data according to its confirmed flight plan and verification of said requested flight plan is in allowed airspaces; and 
 alert at least one of said plurality of UAVs of a danger of contention with another of said plurality of UAVs.